The Canadian Privacy Law Blog: Developments in privacy law and writings of a Canadian privacy lawyer, containing information related to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (aka PIPEDA) and other Canadian and international laws.

Please note that I am only able to provide legal advice to clients.
I am not able to provide free legal advice. Any unsolicited information sent to David Fraser cannot be considered to be solicitor-client privileged.

Links

Subscribe to this Blog as a Yahoo! Group/Mailing ListPowered by groups.yahoo.com

Blogs I Follow

Small Print

The views expressed herein are solely the author's and should not be attributed to his employer or clients. Any postings on legal issues are provided as a public service, and do not constitute solicitation or provision of legal advice. The author makes no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained herein or linked to. Nothing herein should be used as a substitute for the advice of competent counsel.

This web site is presented for informational purposes only. These materials do not constitute legal advice and do not create a solicitor-client relationship between you and David T.S. Fraser. If you are seeking specific advice related to
Canadian privacy law or PIPEDA, contact the author, David T.S. Fraser.

A personal computer containing sensitive personal information on current and former Boeing employees has been stolen. The information included names, addresses, social insurance number and, in some cases, banking information. Boeing says that the information was password protected. The PC was being used by an employee off-site, but the company wouldn't elaborate on the details of the theft. See: The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: PC stolen from Boeing packed with employees' personal data.

"All interesting, etc. etc., but really just another day in the wacky world of data security. For my part, it's difficult to understand why one would ever need the personal and banking information of 161,000 people on a laptop - so one can read it on the sofa? Or take it to that HR Symposium in Duluth, 'just in case'?"

In this day and age, with the widespread adoption of relatively secure remote access by VPN, it is difficult to see why this sort of sensitive information really needs to be on an easily stolen laptop.